Always Yours
by Exchanged
Summary: SpikeBuffy. Set right after the fade to black in Not Fade Away.
1. Swollen

**Notes; **This was written for a ficathon assignment. The person I was writing this for wanted a Spike/Buffy pairing and all characters, minus the dead. She wanted to see slaying of the dragon, prophecy dealth with, and spuffyness. No Gunn dying, no having Spike give up on Buffy again, and no Immortal other than resolution.

**Feedback;** All feedback is greatly appreciated, as I am still new to the fanfiction world. :)

* * *

Standing in the alley, behind the Hyperion Hotel, Angel, Gunn, Spike and Illyria were completely still, unable to take their eyes away from the furious army of demons headed their way.  
  
Spike was the first one to find his voice and speak up, "In terms of a plan?" he asks, still unable to look away.  
  
"We fight," Angel replies, solemnly.  
  
Spike glances at him out of the corner of his eye, "Bit more specific."  
  
"Well, personally, I kind of want to slay the dragon. Let's go to work," he announces, as he steps forward and raises his sword, ready for the impending attack.  
  
The demons are rushing towards them, ready for the final fight. Ready to destroy them all, and everything they've worked for. All the good they've done in this world is about to come to an end. At least they all get to go out fighting.  
  
Angel rushes forward, stabbing two oncoming demons in the abdomen. He hears a yell coming from the alley behind him, figuring it was just more demons, he continues fighting. He knows that this will be his last battle, but that thought doesn't bother him. He's lived a lot longer than most people, and even if he hasn't found redemption yet, he's willing to risk it all - to go to hell, just to help the world. One last time.  
  
He looks to his left and sees a demon pinning Gunn to the ground. Angel knocks the one he was fighting to the ground, and goes to help Gunn, but a teenage girl reaches him first and throws the demon off his chest. Both Gunn and Angel look shocked, but they can't hold focus on the girl for long, another swarm of demons attack. Wave after wave, they fight demon after demon. Almost like an ongoing cycle that will never end.  
  
Angel tries to look through the sea of demons to see how Spike and Illyria are doing, but he can't see either of them. His attention is swiftly called back to the four demons surrounding him when he feels a sharp pain in his shoulder. He looks down and sees a sword sticking out of his left shoulder. He back hands the demon behind him that is holding the sword and quickly pulls it out of his flesh.  
  
There is a loud scream. A human scream, a girl. Angel looks around wildly and sees the dragon that had been sent after them after they tried to take down Wolfram and Hart, swooping close to the ground. With all his vampire strength, he lifts himself about fifteen feet into the air and grabs hold of the dragon's back. It bucks wildly, trying to make him fly off, but he hangs shifts his weight and hangs on - almost dropping his sword. Angel grabs a fist of scales and starts descending towards the dragon's neck, slowly, making sure he doesn't fall off. He finally wraps his arms around the dragon's neck, holding the sword right up to its throat and then punctures it as fast and hard as he can. The dragon cries wildly, dipping left and then right, narrowly missing an oncoming building.  
  
The dragon smashes head first into the pavement at the far end of the alley. Angel dusts himself off, and picks up his now bloody sword, ready to fight some more. He was just getting started. He turns back to the alley, ready to fight, when he sees several young girls fighting off the demons. There were at least a few hundred demon bodies littering the alley-way by now, he noticed, looking around, stunned.  
  
He didn't have time to think about it. He had a fight to attend to. A demon flung himself at Angel, gripping his sore shoulder and squeezing. He felt himself fall to his knees, gasping for breath, that he knew he didn't really need. His sword clattered to the ground, while he gripped his shoulder in pain. The demon in front of him reached down and picked up the sword, raising it above it's head, ready to swing. It seemed to smile down at Angel, mocking him. He knew that he shouldn't give up like this, but he also knew coming into this that it would be his last fight and he wanted to make it memorable. He was gathering his strength, ready to strike and grab the sword from the filthy demon, but before he could even make a move, two hands came from behind the demon and circled around it's neck, snapping it in one quick motion. The demon's body falling to the ground, Angel's sword still in its grasp.  
  
Angel looked up. "Buffy..." he said, so happy and relieved to see her.  
  
"Come on," she said, helping him to his feet. "This isn't over."

* * *

Spike couldn't believe his eyes. _Buffy, his Buffy, was here._ He shook his head. _No. She's just an illusion. A figment._ Spike watched her jump high in the air and kick an oncoming demon in the head, snapping his neck back.  
  
Buffy felt somebody watching her. The hairs on the back of her neck pricked up and she knew immediately who it was. "Spike," she whispered, under her breath.   
  
Turning around to face him, their locked eyes for what seemed like an eternity.  
  
"Buffy!" someone yelled to her right, finally forcing her to tear her eyes away.  
  
Spike turned his attention to where Buffy was looking. Willow was standing down at the end of the alley with Giles, reading from a book.   
  
"Now, Will!" Buffy shouted, punching one of the demons that were now surrounding her.  
  
Willow raised her arms and chanted very loudly, "Let the cloak appear. Allow the fallen warriors to be freed. Hear my plea and envoke me." It was followed by several words spoken in an unfamiliar language. Willow just hoped she had gotten it right, as everyone in the alley, humans and demons alike, were now all staring in her direction.  
  
Willow felt the power surge from somewhere deep inside her, quickly rising to the surface. Bolts of yellow lightning shot out of her outstretched arms and directly into the alley.

* * *

Spike stood up, feeling slightly dazed and even a little queasy. _What the bloody hell did Red do?_ he wondered. He heard a noise farther down the alley, glancing up, he was shocked by the sight that he was witnessing. Hundreds of demons bodies, maybe even thousands, lay dead in the alley. The only ones who remained standing were the humans, and the vampires.  
  
It was then, that Spike noticed just how many girls had been fighting in the alley with them. At least a couple dozen, and he couldn't tell how many more were past those. _They must be Slayers,_ he thought. _Buffy must have brought them._  
  
He looked over to where Buffy had been standing last time he saw her, and she was still there, bloody, but still there. She was real. She was really there.  
  
Buffy grabbed an axe that was laying on the ground and yelled for everyone to get inside the abandoned warehouse that was in the alley beside them.  
  
Angel stepped up to her, "Buffy, You don't understand. They will just send more. We can't stay here."  
  
Buffy craned her head up to look at his face. She had an angry look on her face, Angel knew it well. "No Angel, you don't understand. We just saved your ass. Let's go," she called out to all of the girls standing in the alley, leading them through the door.  
  
Spike and Illyria walked slowly over to Angel. "What now?" Spike asked.  
  
Angel just shrugged his shoulders and walked through the side door into the warehouse, with Spike and Illyria close behind.

* * *

Buffy had her back to Angel, but he could tell that she was talking heatedly about something to Giles and Willow. He could hear her fast-paced heart beat in his ears, getting quicker by the second.  
  
He shook his head to clear all irrevelant thoughts.  
  
Angel walked up behind Buffy, grabbing her shoulder and turning her around.  
  
"Buffy, what are you doing here?" he asked.  
  
"Saving your life. And you're welcome." He blinked at her words. They were harsh and full of hatred. He could tell just by looking in her eyes that she was fuming.   
  
Angel didn't want to push her over the edge but he had to ask, "How did you find out about.. everything?"  
  
"Wesley called me."  
  
Angel just stared, shocked. He felt Illyria come up beside him at the mention of Wes' name.  
  
"He said that you all might be in way over your head. Guess he wasn't wrong about that one." Buffy continued, "Where is Wes?" She glanced around the warehouse and then back at Angel, the look on his face let her know everything she needed to. "Oh."  
  
Buffy lowered her head and looked towards the floor. She stayed that way for several minutes until a familiar voice called her name.  
  
"Buffy?" Spike said, stepping towards her. He had been listening to all this from the side, just observing and not believing that this was real. That she was actually here, standing in front of him.  
  
She snapped her head up so quick that Spike almost jumped out of his skin.  
  
"Spike," she said, with no emotion showing in her voice.  
  
"Listen, Buffy -"  
  
He was cut off when Buffy slapped him hard across the face. He touched his cheek and gasped in pain. He had forgotten how strong she was.  
  
"No, Spike. You listen to me. Shut the hell up," she looked as if she was about to say more, but two slayers entered the warehouse carrying Gunn and she hurried over.  
  
Spike stood there, watching her hurry off, just like he had done many times in the past few years. He was completely and utterly confused, but at least he knew that she was real, on account of his already swollen cheek. 


	2. You're Free

It was a couple hours later, and they were all on a plane headed for England. They had doctors on board to take care of all injuries that had occurred. Gunn was needing most of the attention from them at the moment. He had a large stab wound in his chest, narrowly missing his heart. Angel thought that it was a stupid decision not to take Gunn, and the few slayers that had been injured, to a nearby hospital, but Buffy just remained silent not even acknowledging his prescence. Angel eventually gave up and took his seat. 

Spike sat near the back of the plane, trying to go over what exactly had happened in his head. Buffy was here. Not even twenty feet away, he could sense her. He glanced up to look at her. _God,_ he thought to himself. _She looks even more beautiful then I remembered. I miss her so much._ Spike quickly shook those thoughts away, he wasn't about to let himself get soft. Buffy obviously wanted to have nothing to do with him. 

"Are you in there?" a voice asked. 

Spike glanced up, meeting a very annoyed looking Buffy Summers. 

"Buffy." 

She tore her eyes away from his. "We're having a meeting before we get to England. To, you know, explain some things." 

Spike nodded and stood up, following behind the slayer as she headed to the next room. 

Giles, Willow, Buffy, Spike, Angel and Illyria all sat around a table in what appeared to be a rather large looking conference room. 

"How is Gunn doing?" Angel asked Giles, as soon as he sat down. 

"He'll be fine. He's already recovering. These doctors are the finest in all of England. They know what they are doing." he answered. 

Buffy cleared her throat. "We're going to need some answers from you," she said, looking at Angel. "All I know is that Wes called me today and within the hour we were all on a plane headed to L.A. He explained that you were planning on taking down a group called the Black Thorns. We hadn't heard anything about them before this, but Giles did his research thing and we knew that Wes wasn't kidding. You were in way over your heads." 

"You had no right-" Angel started. 

"No right to what? Save you. You want to be reckless with your life. That's fine. But you put your friends in danger, Angel. What about Gunn? What about Wes? If we hadn't shown up you would all be dead. So how about saying 'Thank you'?" 

It seemed as though she had more to say, the anger and hateful words were just spilling out of her. 

Giles stepped in. "Buffy, this is not the time." He looked over to Angel. "We came here because we were told that we might be needed, and it looks as if we were." 

Angel shook his head. "Maybe, but the Senior Partners are never going to just let us go. They are probably sending another army after us right now." 

"No, they won't." Willow said, to Angel's right. She had been watching all of this unfold and finally decided to step in, before things really got out of control. 

He turned to look at Willow. "What did you do?" 

"I created a shield for you - all of you. The Senior Partners and anyone involved with them can no longer see you. To them, it's just as if you went poof in that alley. They'll have no way to track you down. You're free."

* * *

They had landed in England just a few hours ago and already Buffy was exhausted. She wanted nothing better then to just go home and curl up in her own bed and forget about everything that had happened the past couple days. Seeing Spike again, seeing Angel again, it was just all too much for her to deal with right now. She just started to feel like she was getting her life back and then once again, she became the Slayer.

She looked around the concrete room and sighed. It looked like a prison cell. Of course, she was not in prison. She was going to be staying in a room at the new Council Headquarters. Giles was in charge of everything here which suited Buffy just fine. She had only been here a few times before this, and she was not looking forward to the next few days. They would be awkward, to say the least. 

"Hey," came a voice from the other side of the room. 

Buffy turned and ran, embracing her into an extremely tight hug. 

"Uhh, Buffy.. I can't-t-t... breathe!" 

She took a step back and released her. "Oh! Dawn, I'm sorry! But what - what are you doing here? I told you not to come! You have school! Are you playing hookie?" 

"I just thought I should be here for you. It's got to be painful seeing Spike again," Dawn moved and sat down on the edge of the bed. 

"Believe me, it was. All of kinds of pain," she sat beside Dawn and began running her fingers through her hair. "But, you know, he doesn't seem to care, so why should I? It's all business now." 

"You don't need to be tough for me. You loved him." 

Buffy lowered her eyes, "I did." 

Dawn hesitated for a few minutes. Her sister usually clammed up and changed the subject when she mentioned Spike's name. "Do you still?" she looked up at her. "I mean, really." 

Buffy choked back some tears that threatened to fall. "There's no sense in bringing all this up again. I've moved on. He's moved on. Let's just leave it at that, okay?" 

Dawn nodded, deciding not to push it any further. 

"Good. Now let's go eat. I don't know about you but I'm starved!" 


End file.
